Chloe

Wanted to post a couple pics I took of our baby kitty Chloe. She's adapted well to living here and she's slowly getting used to Daisy. They've been nose to nose several times and have learned to sleep near each other on the couch as well as eat out of their food bowls at the same time. So overall I'd say they are doing well together. They still have their fights but that's to be expected.

Jenevieve's first day of kindergarten!

Well, I won't lie, this morning did not go as well as I'd hoped. Jenevieve woke up tired and crabby today and wasn't at all cooperative about getting dressed and ready to go. We had planned for her to wear this cute dress that my mom made her but suddenly she decided she didn't want to wear it. So she picked another outfit instead but she was mad at me because I told her that she'd have to wear her tennis shoes with that outfit. So I told her to put on the dress from mom and let me take some pictures of her in it and then she can change out of it if she wants. So she took the pictures and then decided to keep the dress on. Yay! Then it was a battle over the shoes again. She wanted to wear her old black shoes instead of her new ones and was refusing to wear socks with them even though I knew she'd get blisters if she didn't. So finally she gave in and put her socks on. Then more tears started and I was trying to figure out what was wrong now. I asked her if she needed some "lovings" as she calls them (hugs) and she said yes. While I was holding her we chatted and as I asked if she was scared. She shook her head yes and started crying more. That was the first time she'd ever shown any signs of being afraid of kindergarten. It was time to leave or we'd be late so the kids headed out the door but Jenevieve grabbed bear blankie on her way out. I thought it was such a sweet sight to see her with her backpack on and all dressed for big girl school but yet still little enough to want her favorite blanket. At least I know I have a little of my baby still in there. :)

She had a few more tears once she got in the van but we were able to keep talking through it on the drive to school.

When we got there she was doing pretty well but still insisted that I walk her to her room. She did pretty well once she saw that MacKenna was already there and the teacher quickly gave her something to do to distract her. She seemed to be ok when I left. Hopefully her day has gone well. I leave to pick her up in an hour. I'll post again later after I've had a chance to ask her how her day went. I hope to take some pictures of her at the school later too but we'll see how her mood is.

First day of school and a new kitten!

Well, today was Kyle's first day of 2nd grade. He was up bright and early today at 6:30 am and ready to go. Which was a welcomed change from last night when he went on and on about how much he hates school and how he doesn't want to go back. This morning though he said he can't wait to go back to school and see all his friends. MUCH better attitude!!! It seems to have gone well although getting any details out of him about his day is like pulling teeth. One of his friends from last year is in his class and he was able to get a desk right by him. He was also anxious to show me the paper he did in class today so that was good. Usually he tries to hide his work from me. Hopefully this year will go well and all the extras that we've put into place for his reading classes will pay off. Here are a couple pictures I took on our way out this morning.

Yesterday Jenevieve came running in the house to let us know that she could hear a cat outside. We discovered this cute little kitten hiding in the weeds. I was able to coax her out and she was surprising mild tempered. She didn't try to claw me or anything. Jason absolutely is NOT a cat person and of course Jenevieve fell hard for the kitty the minute she met it. So we're not sure yet what's going to happen. Whether we'll keep it or not. Daisy is less than thrilled about the cat but the cat is even more upset about Daisy. I think over time Daisy would be fine with the cat but I'm not sure if the cat will ever be ok with Daisy. Jenevieve decided to name the cat this morning which will make it even harder to get rid of her if that's what Jason decides. She named it Chloe. Which actually seems to be fitting for her. She's quite the sweet little thing.

After I dropped Kyle off at school this morning Jenevieve and I went to McDonald's so she could play and I could try to get to know a group of ladies better that I met over the weekend. She couldn't wait to get there but it wasn't long and she whining and being grumpy. There was another little girl there and I really thought they would play well together but Jenevieve decided to have an attitude instead and kept whining about wanting to play by herself. The little girl kept coming to me saying "that girl won't play with me" and Jenevieve kept coming to me saying "that girl won't stop following me". After several attempts at making Jenevieve be cooperative and in a better mood I decided I wasn't getting anywhere and she was simply determined to be in a bad mood today. So we headed for home. :(

I'm hoping I'll get another opportunity to get to know these gals better once Jenevieve has started school. She has her first day of kindergarten tomorrow. Hopefully I won't totally bawl when I drop her off. She just goes 2 days this week and 3 days next week. Then she'll start going 5 days a week. So this week I'll have 2 days to myself which will be nice but I'll still have her home for 3 days so I can ease myself into the realization that my "baby" is in school now and I'll be by myself everyday.

I'll post pictures of Jenevieve's first day tomorrow and I'll let you know how it goes. Her friend from preschool will be in her class so she's excited about that. They had swimming lessons together too and get along really well. It'll be comforting for Jenevieve to know that she'll have one friend there for sure. She has admitted being nervous but she's also really excited to get started in the "big school". Wish her luck!

some scrapbook pages using vacation pictures

Hi everyone! I wanted to take a minute to post some of the layouts I've done with our vacation pictures. First up is a picture taken at the Field Museum of Jason and the kids with "Sue" the T-Rex.

Here's one of Jason and Kyle playing in the pool at the hotel.

And Jason with Eve in the pool.

I really like how this one turned out. We stopped to take these pictures while walking to the Shedd Aquarium from the Field Museum.

That's all I've gotten done so far but I'm sure there will be more as I go along. :)